Overview

Flighty is a flight tracking app designed to reduce travel anxiety by delivering early, reliable insights, often before airlines or airports even have the full picture. It presents real-time updates on delays, gate changes, and airport conditions in a clean, intuitive interface.

This app isn’t just a tracker, it’s built to feel like a trusted travel companion, guiding users with clarity, tone, and context, even when journeys go off script.

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Our Role

We led full-stack development and UX integration, working closely with the Flighty team to translate their aviation vision into seamless iOS and macOS experiences.

Highlights of our contributions include:

Designing an interface rooted in familiar airport signage logic — minimal but rich in meaning

Implementing advanced machine learning models to predict delays hours before airlines do

Crafting interactive widgets and Live Activities using the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen capabilities

Ensuring reliable live updates even when devices are offline or in-flight, via optimization of messaging-based protocols

Challenges and How We Solved Them

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1. Predicting delays proactively

Challenge: The industry standard is reactive, airlines update users slowly, and sometimes inaccurately.
Solution: We developed a machine learning engine trained on inbound aircraft patterns, air traffic control alerts, and airport congestion, enabling delay predictions up to six hours ahead.

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2. Real-time updates under restricted connectivity

Challenge: Passengers often lose connectivity during takeoff or mid-flight.
Solution: We engineered a lightweight messaging protocol that uses messaging-only Wi-Fi services to deliver updates via in-app systems, even without full Internet access.

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3. Displaying critical data in the right moment

Challenge: Users need travel information quickly and contextually.
Solution: With careful UX thinking, we translated decades of airport signage conventions into screens, Live Activities, and Dynamic Island interfaces that surface exactly what users need, no tapping required.

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4. Balancing rich data with simplicity

Challenge: There’s a lot of technical data behind flights, and too much can feel overwhelming.
Solution: Through thoughtful design and iterative user testing, we distilled information into digestible tiers: essential metrics front and center, with deeper detail available through intuitive interactions.

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Results & Recognition

• Accurate delay predictions, often outperforming airline notices by hours
• Widely acclaimed by travelers and writers — praised for making flying “fun and a lot less stressful,” and for elevating flight data clarity to an artful experience
• Secured Apple’s Design Award and became a finalist for App of the Year
• Continues to serve millions of users with scalable subscription models, including free and Pro tiers, tailored to casual and frequent flyers alike

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What This Project Demonstrates

Flighty is proof that top-tier user experience can coexist with complex, real-time technical systems. It highlights our ability to:

• Build predictive intelligence into consumer products
• Design interfaces that feel intuitive under pressure
• Handle unreliable connectivity with elegant, resilient architectures

Ultimately, Flighty shows how technology, when thoughtfully applied, can transform stressful travel into a smoother, more informed journey.

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